Clinical And Dermoscopic Assessment Of Various Lip Lesions - A Cross Sectional Study

Abstract

Background- Lips are highly susceptible to environmental effects so common oral mucosal lesions are seen over the lips. Few studies have been carried out till now to estimate the prevalence of lip lesions exclusively. Dermoscopy is a link between macroscopic clinical dermatology and microscopic dermatopathology and has the capability to avoid unnecessary excisional biopsy and extensive surgery. Aims and objectives-  To assess the prevalence of lip lesions in South India region.  To study the clinical and dermoscopic features of various lip lesions. Materials and methods- It is an hospital based cross-sectional study of patients presenting with various lip lesions. Patients were subjected to detailed clinical and dermoscopic examination and categorized into neoplastic and non-neoplastic groups. Non-neoplastic were further sub-categorized into inflammatory, infections, pigmentary lesions. Punch biopsy was done if necessary. Results- Among 37589 patients attending dermatology OPD during the study period , 150 patients had various lip lesions with prevalence of 0.40 . Age of the patients ranged from 4-79 years. Non-neoplastic lesions were commonly seen(122 patients), than neoplastic(28 patients). 25 cases required biopsy to reach final diagnosis. Of 150 patients with various lip lesions, most of them were lichen planus (30%), followed by contact cheilitis (13%), actinic cheilitis(9.33%), herpes labialis(8%). Radial Wickham striae was the most common pattern seen, followed by linear pattern. Conclusion- The prevalence of lip lesions was 0.40 Lichen planus was the prevalent lesion in the study(30%) with radial Wickham striae being the most common pattern.